Abstract
Pakistan’s relations with states of South Asia other than India manifest cordiality and a broad-based sharing of views on major international and regional issues. They neither perceive each other as adversaries nor pursue opposing goals. There are no territorial or other serious disputes between Pakistan and these states, and whenever some differences arise, they either settle these amicably or do not play these up. Pakistan and Bangladesh were entangled in a host of bilateral problems in the early seventies, but they gradually resolved most of them and developed very cordial relations.
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Notes
No figures of assets and liabilities were released by Bangladesh and Pakistan. An unofficial Bangladesh source claimed that the Bangladesh Planning Cornmission assessed Bangladesh’s assets at approximately 2580 million Bangladeshi Takkas, as against liabilities which amounted to approximately 110 million Takkas. See: Syed Serajul Islam, ‘Bangladesh-Pakistan Relations: From Conflict to Cooperation’, in Emajuddin Ahmed (ed.), Foreign Policy of Bangladesh (Dhaka: University Press Ltd, 1984), pp. 52–63 (see pp. 58–9).
The inaugural flight had to fly from Dhaka to Dubai and then it flew into Karachi because India did not grant permission to the aircraft using India’s airspace to touch down directly at Karachi. The return journey was also undertaken through the same route: Karachi-Dubai-Dhaka. See the statement of the pilot of the aircraft, Captain Tahir: Pakistan Times, 8 July 1976. Pakistan started its regular weekly air service to Dhaka in December 1976.
General Ziaur Rehman’s speech at the banquet hosted by Pakistan’s President, Fazal Elahi Chaudhry: Pakistan Horizon (XXXI, 1, 1978), pp. 200–1.
Ibid., and the text of the joint communiqué: Foreign Affairs Record (4, 12, December 1977), pp. 36–9; see also the farewell message of General Ziaur Rehman: Ibid., p. 39.
General Ziaur Rehman’s statement: Muslim, 28 August 1980. Foreign Minister Shamsul Doha’s press conference in Jeddah: Dawn Overseas Weekly, 2 June 1983.
The idea of a regional cooperation organization was first floated by General Ziaur Rehman in 1980. A Working Paper on this proposal was sent to the states of South Asia by Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister, Shamsul Haq, in November 1980. For the text of the Working Paper, see: Mohammad Shamsul Haq, International Politics: A Third World Perspective (London: Oriental University Press, 1987), pp. 79–94.
Asian Recorder, 15–21 October 1986, pp. 19131–32; Pakistan Horizon (XXXIX, 3, 1986), p. 106; Mohsin Ali, ‘Ershad’s Visit: Firming up SAARC and Ties’, Dawn, 12 August 1986.
See the report on the Dhaka visit of Pakistan’s Minister for Commerce, Finance, Planning and Development, Dr Mahbubul Haq: Dawn Overseas Weekly, 28 July–3 August 1988.
P. Venkateshwar Rao, ‘Foreign Involvement in Sri Lanka’, The Roundtable (309, January 1989), pp. 88–100; India Today, 31 August 1985, p. 38.
Hasan-Askari Rizvi, ‘Crisis in Indo-Sri Lankan Ties: New Delhi Action — Politically Motivated’, Nation, 6 June 1987.
For an analysis of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, see: Hasan-Askari Rizvi, ‘Accord with Sri Lanka: A Permanent Role for India’, Nation, 16 August 1987.
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© 1993 Hasan-Askari Rizvi
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Rizvi, HA. (1993). The Smaller States of South Asia. In: Pakistan and the Geostrategic Environment. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230379848_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230379848_3
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